Scribbling on windows: Bulgari Hotel, London pampers the inner child

As a child who had an affinity for colour pencils, crayons and paint brushes, I always fantasized about scribbling, painting and doodling on the walls and windows of my home. The same can probably be said for every other person who grew up next to art tools and colouring books. Well, during the recent Frieze Art Fair in London, Britist artist Stuart Semple projected this sort of playful fantasy onto the floor-to-ceiling lobby windows of Bulgari Hotel in London, but instead with “grown-up” contexts of pop culture.

Part of the hotel’s ‘The Artist in Residence’ project, Semple injected vibrant colours in the form of words and shapes that reflected the artist’s memories from the 1980s in a mix of fashion, music and art. Spanning 127 meters long, the painting – although striking and fun in appearance – has deep perspectives on pop-culture and the like.  

With some 15 major international solo exhibitions in the UK, USA, China and Italy, Semple has been hailed for his paintings in which he takes on an emotive, sociological perspective on pop culture. His visual language often brings back themes of image creation, technology, anxiety and spirituality. 

Watch Semple transform the Bulgari Hotel’s lobby in this #Semple4Bulgari video.